Diane Birch

"I spent a lot of time in nature as a kid, so for me it was just normal to sit and watch the grass grow. And if you don’t know any better, you’re really satisfied with simple things." - Diane Birch

Diane Birch is an American musician who grew up without television. She is also the latest Myspace musical baby whose brand of gospel pop, to be heard on her debut album, is laced with a handful of not-so-disparate influences, from hymn to soul to opera and the blues. Her devoutly religious parents did indeed largely deprive her formative years of TV and other forms of pop culture and this has, without question, influenced her music as an adult. But don't be too quick to knock the ol' idiot box, it could have done Birch some good.

SEX APPEAL

Birch is the daughter of a preacher man, a fact that, properly spun, contributes to her sex appeal: We envision an anxious sexuality writhing under the iron yoke of her father's heavy morals, one yearning to break free, indulge, go nuts. It's a sad little fantasy, but hardly the saddest imaginable. Yet the waifish, 5' 9" brunette plays right into the part of the adorable ingenue because she is, to be sure, sensationally cute: big, beatific brown eyes and long, bat-ready eyelashes, part of a sweet face framed by uneven bangs that look like she cut them herself one careless, rebel afternoon.

SUCCESS

Having recently released Bible Belt, her debut album on the indie label S-Curve Records, Birch is riding the crest of a wave made by her brand-new-ness. She seems plucked from obscurity, which adds to her appeal. But hold on, the pattern is becoming unmistakable: MySpace exposure leads to an indie record deal, a marketing team crafts the package, a PR machine stirs up excitement, appearances on Carson Daly and Craig Ferguson follow. Didn't we just do this for Ingrid Michaelon?

At any rate, make no mistake: Birch has an army marching behind her and his name is Steve Greenberg, the producer credited with discovering Joss Stone and the Jonas Brothers.

Diane Birch Biography

Michigan-born to deeply religious South African parents, Diane Birch is something of a revivalist. Her tunes sound shaken out of the pages of a discarded hymnal. At various times she rings an old bell in an aging mind, channeling Stevie Nicks, Carole King, Karen Carpenter, Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell, and a few other soulful singer-songwriters in the basic James Taylor tradition. Good voice? Yup. Piano grooves? Oh yeah. Can write a hook? You bet. Has her own distinctive style?

… nope, though countless internet "reviews" will tell you otherwise. They stress her unusual upbringing: an itinerant youth spent on the heels of her father's continent-hopping work as a minister in the Seventh Day Adventist church. Not until age 13 did she experience stability, but she remained sheltered and rebellious.

diane birch still needs to search for her own style

People are quick to see this is as paying automatic creative dividends, that an extraordinary childhood will inevitably inform an uncommon artistic point of view, but it isn't true -- not unless Birch makes it so, and she doesn't.

It is, after all, the hard part; an artist goes to the places the rest of us fear to tread, and returns to tell us what those places are like. When Fiona Apple says she's "been a bad, bad girl," we're compelled to believe her. When Birch asks, "Why should I lay it on the line," the answer is obvious -- because that's the cost of being an artist.

diane birch and greenberg

Despite this evident vacancy, Birch has serious musical chops and is reportedly a fantastic live act. Plus with Greenberg at her back, she has a fighting chance to be more than a fleeting Myspace phenomenon. She already has the sound of a wailing heartache; what she needs is the real-life lament to make it convincing.